Club for Growth targets seek help

Several House Republicans the Club for Growth has singled out for primary challenges are looking to Speaker John Boehner and GOP donors to keep them out of the fire.

A handful of lawmakers targeted by the Club’s Primary My Congressman campaign are slated to meet with Boehner next week to press him on anything the House GOP leadership can do inside and outside the Capitol to prevent the Republican-on-Republican skirmishes, several sources said.

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And several of the lawmakers, including prodigious fundraisers like Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock, are pushing corporate political action committees to give the maximum amount of money to their campaigns early in the cycle in order to show strength against potential GOP challengers. They’re also trying to secure early valuable endorsements from business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Indiana Rep. Larry Bucshon, one of the club’s targets, said the idea to meet with him came together in a member discussion on the House floor. But it’s unclear what Boehner can actually do to help the at-risk lawmakers.

“We just want to bring it to his attention, and I’m sure he knows about it,” Bucshon told POLITICO. “It’s a good idea anytime, no matter what organization you are in, when there are issues to talk to your boss, and that’s all it is.”

The constant threat of conservative primary challenges to Republican lawmakers — coupled with the GOP establishment’s inability or unwillingness to stop them — have become an increasingly frustrating element for congressional leaders. And it is sure to become a practical challenge for Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as they try to corral votes on everything from government funding measures to the debt ceiling to the budget.

In fact, it’s one reason striking a grand deficit compromise is difficult, if not impossible — members who might otherwise be willing to bargain are terrified of casting a bad vote and luring the ire of a wealthy challenger or outside group.

These aren’t idle threats: Last year, six House Republicans were defeated in primaries — three were member-on-member races due to redistricting, and three were insurgent challenges from the right. And the Club poured millions of dollars into primaries in the 2012 cycle.